None of the answers come easy when you’re dealing with the kind of struggles Virginia Tech is trying to handle right now, but right tackle Vinston Painter tried his best Thursday night to explain what exactly is weighing down Tech’s offense.

He stood almost emotionless, eyes never diverting from a straight ahead stare. He seemed to tolerate the inquiries about Tech’s offensive failures that were coming at him in the postgame interview room, while enduring shock from what he’d witnessed in Tech’s 30-12 loss at Miami.

“It hurts,” Painter said. “It really does hurt to drive the ball up and down the field and not get any points. It hurts as an offense. It hurts as a lineman.”

Hey, give Painter credit. At least he showed up to face the verbal probing of ravenous reporters on deadline. That’s more than could be said for quarterback Logan Thomas, who dodged reporters after the game.

Thomas, who generated over 305 combined yards passing and rushing for a fourth consecutive game, wasn’t entirely to blame for Tech’s inefficiencies on the offensive side against Miami (5-4 overall, 4-2 ACC). Not even close. He was the primary reason Tech was able to move the ball in the first place, but points were hard to come by for a second straight game – and this time after having an extra week to prepare.

Tech (4-5, 2-3), which also lost 38-17 on Oct. 20 at Clemson, posted more than 405 yards for a second straight game, but couldn’t take advantage of opportunities in the red zone. Against Clemson, Tech had 406 yards. In the Miami game, Tech put up 421 yards.

Tech’s combined six trips inside the red zone at Clemson and Miami yielded one touchdown, two field goals, two turnovers and a turnover on downs.

“When it looks tough, you really see what people are made out of, and thing are really tough right now,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “We’ve probably got the best team in the ACC coming next Thursday (to Blacksburg)…so things are tough, but pride and trying to get to a bowl game – we’ve still got that to play for.”

A big part of Tech’s problems inside the red zone, and, frankly, anywhere on the field, has been its inability to find a workhorse back to carry the load. Much has been written and said in the last 11 days about Tech trying to narrow the focus of its running back rotation, but that didn’t seem to be the case against Miami.

Tech still seemed like a team very much in experimentation mode with its running game, which isn’t where a program that’s normally a serious contender for the ACC Coastal Division crown every season intends to be after nine games.

J.C. Coleman came into the game leading Tech with 338 rushing yards on the season, but he didn’t even get a carry in the first quarter. Beamer said he wants to try to get Michael Holmes back in gear, which seems curious considering Holmes hadn’t produced much since September (when he was marginally productive in the first place).

At this point, Tech doesn’t have a single running back on pace to have 100 carries on the season, which is highly unusual for the Hokies.

Thomas could finish as the team’s leading rusher – something that hasn’t happened at Tech since 1963, when Bob Schweickert led the team with 839 yards rushing. After running for a career-high 124 yards at Miami, Thomas has a team-leading 422 yards for the season.

Those numbers are way below what Tech is accustomed to getting from its running back rotation. Take a look at just the running back combinations Tech has used since it appeared in the national title game in 1999:

(Keep in mind these statistics don’t even include the often-gaudy rushing efforts of several of Tech’s most prolific running quarterbacks that played in these seasons – Warwick High graduates Michael and Marcus Vick, Bruton High graduate Bryan Randall, Hampton High graduate Tyrod Taylor and Thomas)

What’s the major theme running through those aforementioned seasons? Tech had more than one solid back in each of the seasons, but one back in particular it could rely on in most of the seasons.

In eight of the 12 seasons, Tech had one running back carry the ball at least 222 times. At least one back had a minimum 151 carries in each of the seasons. Again, barring a big surprise down the stretch, Tech won’t have a back this season come anywhere close to getting those kinds of carries.

As effective as Thomas has been running the ball, he’s been in a funk throwing it. He’s now thrown 12 interceptions, which is two more than he threw all last season. He’s also not throwing the ball with great accuracy either.

With Tech trailing Miami 20-12 early in the fourth quarter, Thomas saw some pressure from linebacker Raphael Kirby and misfired to wide open fullback Joey Phillips on a fourth-and-1 pass from the Hurricanes 39-yard line. Tech wouldn’t get that deep into Miami territory again until 11 additional minutes had come off the clock and the Hokies were trailing by 18 points with 2:30 remaining.

That may have been Thomas’ most egregious throwing miscue, but he wasn’t sharp for much of the game, completing 15 of 28 passes for 207 yards and two interceptions.

In eight games against Bowl Subdivision opponents, he’s completed greater than 60 percent of his passes and thrown at least as many touchdowns as interceptions just once (against Duke; 14 of 23 passing for 256 yards, two touchdowns and one interception). Last season, he did it in four games.

Tech’s loss to Miami was its fourth this season by double digits. The last time Tech lost more games by double digits was 1988 (six such losses that season).

Of course, Tech has more problems than just inconsistent efforts (and opportunities) from its running backs and inaccurate passing from Thomas. Special teams issues reappeared against Miami, and turnovers have killed Tech drives in its last two losses.

Against Miami, Tech got its first punt blocked against all season due to a bad snap and a poor catch by punter A.J. Hughes. Another bad snap against Clemson almost resulted in a block, or perhaps a disemboweling by Clemson’s oncoming rushers of poor Hughes, who managed to get off a short punt. On the other hand, Tech hasn’t blocked a kick or punt against a Bowl Subdivision team since 2010.

Turnovers were harmful against both Clemson and Miami, but in different ways. Clemson took advantage of Tech’s four turnovers, scoring 21 points off them. Tech’s two turnovers against Miami wound up costing the Hokies almost certain points of their own (at least seven and possibly as many as 14 considering both turnovers were in the red zone).

Tech has three games to get things right at least twice against opponents (FSU, at Boston College and against Virginia), or the Hokies will be home for the holidays for the first time since 1992.